I was given my first reporting assignment when I was pursuing the course in Journalism at Bombay College of Journalism at KC College, Churchgate somewhere in the year 1980. I was asked to do reporting on the topic 'Child Labour' for the magazine that was brought out by the students of Bombay College of Journalism. Menka Shivdasani was made the editor of that magazine. Menka Shivdasani, for your information, is today the editor of Times Of India's supplement 'Property Times'. I think, if I'm not mistaken, the name of the magazine was 'Student Journalist'. I enjoyed doing that reporting assignment. I interviewed quite many child labourers and then made a report which was appreciated by many. The report was published in the magazine. Well, that was my first experience as a Newspaper Reporter. I remember I had even contributed a cartoon strip in which I had made the caricatures of all the lecturers of Bombay College in Journalism. Against each caricature I had written a comment that suited the lecturer whose caricature I had drawn. I remember I had drawn the caricatures of more than twelve lecturers. This work of mine had become quite controversial too. I regret that I don't have even one copy of that particular magazine with me. I should have retained at least one copy.
When I got the job as sub-editor in the weekly newspaper 'In New Bombay' ( which is today a daily newspaper called 'Newsband') I did quite a lot of reporting initially before I began to concentrate almost totally on the desk work. There are some reporting assignments that I really enjoyed doing. One was the report on Assam Bhavan. Here I had to interview the deputy resident commissioner of Assam Bhavan, Devashish Sharma. He was the man who played an instrumental role in making Assam Bhavan a popular institution in Navi Mumbai. I liked the way he spoke. He spoke very fluently in English and he passed on to me many vital information about the Bhavan and this enabled me to come up with an extremely interesting report which was greatly appreciated by many readers of the weekly 'In New Bombay'.
Another reporting assignment I enjoyed doing was the one where I had to interview Stephen Bourne, CEO of Cambridge University Press. He had come to Nerul at Navi Mumbai for the inauguration of Cambridge House. He talked to me in great length about his idea of spreading education all over India via satellite. It was a very interesting topic. His idea of spreading education free of cost via satellite especially to remote Indian villages was a very noble one. I hope he succeeds in achieving this dream of his.
Another piece of reporting I enjoyed doing was one where I had to interview Probir Kumar Bose, the resident of New Panvel. If you look at this man you will not think much about him. But once you come to know the feat that he has performed, you will be totally impressed. The hobby of Bose was to keep writing letters to great personalities, not only of India, but also the world. The best thing is he has a collection of replies to his letters that he received from many great personalities. I not only made a report on him and published it but also published with it the photos of the manuscripts of the letters that he had received from great personalities like Indira Gandhi, the Pope and former President of India, Shankar Dayal Sharma. Bose also has a huge collection of rare coins and stamps. I received quite many letters of appreciation for writing this report on Probir Kumar Bose.
Another piece of reporting that I enjoyed doing was the one on Span Mahila Vikas Charitable Trust. I got to interview the top people of this Non-Government Organisation and I got to know many interesting things about this organisation. This meeting between the Navi Mumbai Press and the NGO was organised by Varghese, the publisher and editor of the weekly newspaper 'Sunny News', at a five-star hotel.
I've done many more reporting assignments, besides the ones I mentioned above. But I felt that I should talk to you about some of my most memorable works as a Reporter and hence I passed on to you some of my great moments as a Newspaper Reporter. Bye!
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